This invention relates to cervical collars, and more particularly to a cervical collar of improved support and comfort characteristics for use primarily in the workplace, home and while traveling, and to a method for making the same.
There are two basic forms of cervical collars. One is a costly, multi-component, rigid structure for use in medical emergency situations that require immobilization of the head and neck by medically trained personnel. The second form of cervical collar is an inexpensive, one-piece, resilient strip of foamed rubber or synthetic resin that can be wrapped and secured about the neck by the wearer to provide support for the head while permitting a limited degree of freedom of movement of the head. The present invention relates to cervical collars of this second form.
Workplace tasks, such as a computer work station, require the operator to position the hands for manipulating a keyboard and to otherwise assume a relatively fixed posture of the body and head in front of the display. This static condition results in muscular fatique and consequent discomfort in the neck and shoulders. The use of a cervical collar of the second form described above, even for a few minutes periodically through the work hours, overcomes the muscular fatigue and results beneficially in improved comfort and consequent productivity.
One-piece cervical collars of the second form described above have been provided heretofore. Since they have utilized conventional foamed synthetic resins, typically foamed polyurethane resin, they have had to incorporate some means to increase the density of the foam, or otherwise decrease the resilience thereof, sufficiently to provide increased deflection resistance to adequately support the head and neck.
One such means for decreasing the resilience of the foamed synthetic resin, described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,785 is to re-form the foamed material into small cubes and thereafter bond the cubes together with a binder. This bonded mixture then is heated to a softened condition and forced into a mold and cured to form a shaped core material of increased density. The core material is covered with a porous fabric and mating fasteners are secured to the opposite ends of the core for attaching the collar about the neck. This elaborate procedure contributes adversely to excessive manufacturing cost.
Another means for decreasing the resilience of foamed synthetic resin is to provide one or more reinforcement components of non-foamed synthetic resin which also support the foamed resin collar in annular shape. This construction is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,474. The two piece construction described therein is characterized by excessive manufacturing cost and is rather uncomfortable to wear while working.
Still another means for providing a cervical collar of suitable head and neck-supporting capability is to form the collar of a corrugated plastic material in which the corrugations extend parallel to the axial dimension of the neck. Such a collar is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,637. A similar construction, formed with an axially extending splint assembly fastened to the outer side of a soft foamed resin collar, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,581. These structures also are rather expensive to manufacture and are rather uncomfortable to wear while working.
Other such cervical collars utilize specially foamed synthetic resins of higher than normal density to achieve the required head and neck support. Illustrative of these are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,850,164 and 4,987,891. This high density foamed resin is costly to manufacture and it presents an unsatisfactory degree of discomfort to the wearer.